Monthly Archive for August, 2010

: August, 2010

Photo: Ken Sanders.”unlimited service to the ABAA…”This little memory is for Peter, whom I have known, admired, respected, and feared all of my career:It was 1967 and I was just three months an employee of Jake Zeitlin’s “Big Red Barn” bookstore, Zeitlin and Ver Brugge, and knew nothing. I guess that we received a list or catalogue offering books for sale (computers and the internet hadn’t been thought of, at least not in the book business) and I had ordered (for all of $40 if memory serves correctly) an Advance Proof Copy of Bertrand Russell’s Satan in the Suburbs … …

A genuine Apollo and Pegasus Binding by Marcantonio GuilleryCan you imagine having every book in your library in matching bindings that were especially designed for you? No half-hearted half calf, either: full leather bindings with a signature design that instantly marks it as your property, even almost 500 years later … …

Photo: Ken Sanders. “peter’s tutorial” I am convinced that those of us who grew toward maturity as booksellers in the 70’s were a fortunate lot. The older generation was established, vital, active: Michael Papantonio, Hans Kraus, Jack Bartfield, Margie Cohn. Yes, I think of New York and New England as well … …

Photo: Ken Sanders.”the biblical prophet…”I have known Peter Howard for some forty years, during which time, along with many, many book transactions, we have had countless disagreements, confrontations and fights. Many of these originated from his strong convictions about loyalty to friends — in particular his friend, and my nemesis, William Hoffer … …

“made my future in this profession possible”In July of 1975, fresh out of college with a degree in journalism in hand, I moved to Berkeley, California, and found myself living on Francisco Street, one block from Serendipity Books, a bookstore I had previously known only through its catalogues. I went there almost immediately, but the first few visits there was no Peter Howard, a name and face I did not at that point even know … …

Photo: Ken Sanders.introductionI saw Robinson Crusoe at the 2007 California Antiquarian Book Fair in San Francisco.He was standing in one of the aisles around twenty-five yards away from my vantage point and looked like an aged, unkempt and unshaven derelict marooned far too long, surviving on a diet far too short on calories … …

Detail From The Poster For The Brown University Exhibit(All Images Courtesy Of Brown University Libraries Unless Otherwise Noted.)True bibliophiles know that building a fine book collection requires sacrifices. For some, this crosses over into full-fledged bibliomania. Many book lovers secretly agree with the famous quotation from Dutch Renaissance scholar Desiderus Erasmus: “When I get a little money I buy books; and if any is left I buy food and clothes … …

Portrait Of Billie Holiday, For DownBeat Magazine, ca. 1947.(Photo by William P. Gottlieb, Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)Call it chance, fate, destiny, or kismet. Often sheer luck–good or bad–determines the shape of our lives. Eighteenth century poet and philosopher Johann Friedrich Von Schiller believed that “what seems to us mere accident springs from the deepest source of destiny … …

First paperback edition in Dutch of Christie’s The Body in the Library.Artist: Rein van Looji.Dames. Good looks, legs that start at the floor and go all the way to heaven, and a soft spot for hard eggs gets ’em into trouble every time. Or, they’ll sock you in the gut with love then karate chop you when they give you the air … …

Belle Da Costa Greene, 1911.Image courtesy of the Morgan LibraryIn the 1890s, financier J. Pierpont Morgan began building a collection of art, rare books, manuscripts, and artifacts that would surpass anything previously known in the United States. In 1902, he commissioned Charles McKim, the nation’s most prominent architect, to build a library to house his treasures … …

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